It was nearly midnight when I rang the doorbell and the lights were off, but in a little while, the lady came to the door. In a distant city a few weeks ago, I was asked to go talk to a lady concerning sin in her life and how it was affecting another home. ![]() “Those that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:5) ![]() Therefore thus saith the Lord thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.” (Amos 7:10-17) Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son but I was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there but prophesy not again any more at Bethel for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. “Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. “And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, ‘Art thou he that troubleth Israel?'” (1 Kings 18:17) It is a sign of maturity not to be scandalized and to try to find explanations in charity.“For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” (Acts 24:25) At that age you don’t look for what is hidden. One of my favorite writers, Flannery O’Connor, wrote in a letter to a friend: “From 15 to 18 is an age at which one is very sensitive to the sins of others, as I know from recollections of myself. Unplug the toaster.” (I have to confess, I usually forget to unplug it. Why - why keep the toaster unplugged? Whenever I want to challenge her to defend her unplugged-toaster position, I remind myself, “This is her apartment and her rule. I’m puzzled by my mother-in-law’s habit of keeping her toaster unplugged. When he writes about his own experience and views, I find his work very compelling, but he’s very judgmental and dismissive of any different vision of a happy life.Ħ. I remind myself of the negative example of Thoreau: I almost can’t bear to read Thoreau's Walden, because he's so disdainful of other people’s tastes and values. I often fight the impulse to be a happiness bully, but what works for me might not work for someone else. ![]() It's a Secret of Adulthood: Just because something makes me happy doesn’t mean that it will make someone else happy, and vice versa.
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